Full Kiev Report!

Baysangurov, Bursak and Preskar victorious

By Anton Gorunov (at ringside) and Alexey Sukachev

Russian junior middleweight Zaurbek Baysangurov (now 21-1 with 16 KOs) scored his second consecutive first-round blowout this past Saturday night at Kiev’s Palace of Sports. In the main event of the show, promoted by the K2 East promotional group, Baysangurov, 24, decked his Italian opponent Christian De Martinis (22-3, 10 KOs) first with a body-punch and then with a wild left hook to the head before knocking him down again after a big right hand, which forced referee to stop the contest without a count. Baysangurov seized the vacant WBA Intercontinental title in the process. Next for the Chechen native is August showdown against the Contender II victor Grady Brewer (25-11, 14 KOs) for the vacant IBO belt in Pala, California.

Young middleweight Max Bursak (18-0-1, 7 KOs) scored his biggest victory to date by stopping rugged German opponent Alexander Sipos (19-7-2, 9 KOs) in four rounds. Bursak was active throughout the whole contest with his fast but light combinations, while Sipos did a great job by mounting a tight defense and a solid block to be hidden after. Rounds were close though Bursak looked as a better man thanks to his ring generalship. Unexpectedly, the fight was stopped in the fourth round when the guest fighter sprained his left foot and was unable to continue.

K2 East-promoted Croatian heavyweight Mario Preskar moved to 16-0-2, 10 KOs, after an eight-round workmanlike unanimous decision over Russian journeyman entertainer Daniil “Shrek” Peretyatko (16-22, 6 KOs). All three judges had it 80-72 making the contest a virtual shootout.